Some things just happen for a reason. A parking spot just as you need it. That cheque you’ve been waiting for arrives in the mail at precisely the right time. The job opportunity comes along right when you need it most. Somebody mails you a CD out of the blue while you’re considering what to write for the next column. Well….the latter just waltzed into my mailbox….it’s the most beautiful rendition of this classic I’ve ever heard. The vocalist was only twelve when it was recorded.

I am in the middle of a seven-day ten-event Christmas event marathon. Don’t know exactly what it is this year but it seems like every day this week there are a couple of shindigs. Thanks to the fine folks at The Talent House for their great event Monday at The Madison. It was fantastic to see and spend time with my old pal Robin Black who is now one of the world’s foremost MMA analysts and a hero amongst Irish fight fans. Robin’s wife Erica is a client of the Talent House and currently performing in “Kinky Boots”.

March 2 was the 10th anniversary of Hunter S. Thompson’s death and a picture of one of his quotes was making the rounds in Facebook. I found the subject matter rather timely! Many of us will find both the truth and the irony in what he had to say.

Anyone familiar with that Pink Floyd tune? (c’mon, who isn’t? It’s from “Dark Side of The Moon” for crying out loud). The album, released on March 1, 1973, made # 1 for only one week, but in total, spent 741 weeks on Billboard magazine’s album chart. Let’s put that into years shall we? “Dark Side of the Moon” remained on the charts from 1973 until 1988. If you know the song, then you’ll know that the next lyrics to the title at the top of the page are: “Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash. New car, caviar, four star daydream, think I’ll buy me a football team.”

Tuesday marks the 147th birthday of this great Dominion known as Canada. Though we’re not quite as old as our brother to the south, our European lineage dates back to May 2, 1670 when the Dread Pirate Ernie Hudson got his ship stranded in the northern waters of the arctic looking for a direct passage to Santa’s Workshop. He and the crew survived on nothing but Her Queen’s Own Biscuits, Tea Candles and striped blankets knitted from the wool of extinct mammoths. The native population had already been here 11,000 years longer and resented the idea that you now had to trade 10 beaver pelts to get a birch bark canoe. We’ve come a long way since then but still pride ourselves on our cultural diversity, beavers, hockey and fornicating while watching hockey. Oh, and we seem to be able to write a mean ditty (not “diddy” you internet meme idiots).